Pro Streamer Spotlight: TigressX

This week I had the opportunity to kick around some questions and chat with TigressX. She is a pro Smite player and Twitch partner with quite an impressive following. We dove into a little bit about what it's like starting from scratch, building a following and keeping it going. Before we get started, take a second to follow TigressX on Twitter as well has her up and coming YouTube channel!

A Little Bit Of Background

Before we jump head first into our conversation, I want to talk a little bit about what led to TigressX becoming a major name in the streaming community. A life long gamer in her spare time, TigressX started streaming regularly over 7 years ago. Usually streaming Counter Strike: Source, Smite wasn't even on the radar. It took 3 years of constant streaming, trying different games and applying again and again before she was finally accepted as a Twitch partner. Now to be fair, it was a lot harder back then to get a partnership then it is now for you young whippersnappers out there.

The game that finally put TigressX over the top, landing the Twitch partnership and setting her on the course to where she is now; Destiny. That's right! It wasn't even Smite! Believe it or not, Smite wasn't even a game that caught her interest until much later on. According to TigressX "It actually wasnt my style of game at all, I had only mainly played Shooters and some MMO's, but one of my college friends tried to get me to play it a few times, he said I would like it. After him mithering me for ages, I finally tried it with him, i really enjoyed it".

TigressX and iRaffer at Insomnia54

It was Smite that got her out into the eSports scene, going to meet-ups, mingling with players, even meeting boyfriend and pro-player iRaffer. Now TigressX travels all over, going to big eSports events with iRaffer to compete and just enjoy the community. Just recently, TigressX was at DreamHack in Valencia, you can check out the YouTube stream of that trip here.

Career As A Pro Streamer

For the last 4 years, TigressX has achieved the holy grail of gaming, making a career out of playing video games and a successful one at that! TigressX has built a respectable following of nearly 30,000 followers on Twitch with videos reaching over 300,000 views or more. If there's one thing that set's TigressX apart from other Smite streamers (or any for that matter), it's how into interacting with her viewers she is. There's no question that this has contributed to her success.When you can't find her streaming on her channel, she's probably chatting it up on her Discord server. To Tigress, this is what really makes streaming enjoyable, the human element.

When she takes a break from the digital world, it's to take some time out and go to Smite or other eSports events to get out and meet other Smite gamers. It's not uncommon at all for TigressX to meet a lot of her biggest fans at these events like DreamHack, Smite worlds or Insomnia.

Before becoming a Twitch partner, TigressX was working a "boring office job" and was, in her own words, "quite shy". Contrary to the popular notion that video games cause people to be introverted, being a pro streamer actually had the opposite effect on TigressX. Pulling her out of her shell so to speak, she was so enthused by going to events and meeting her fans in person after streaming with them, it's become her favorite part of streaming! The experience of interacting with other gamers and streamers with whom she had a lot in common has been an absolutely amazing experience for TigressX.

TigressX also goes pretty far to get her viewers involved with the stream, some days, you can type your IGN to queue up to play next. Not only that, but I think what may be my favorite part, on the weekends, you can even join in on her "Drunken Streams". Now I don't know about you but I come from the 'order a pizza, get a 12-pack and play videogames until 3am' era. If you are looking for a truly entertaining way to watch a video stream, check out TigressX on the weekends!

What's next

TigressX has no plans of slowing down any time soon, quite the opposite in fact. In regards to her Twitch channel, she looks forward to reaching more and more views every week. That's obviously the biggest focus for any pro streamer. She also plans on expanding outside of Smite, you can catch her switching it up with some other games like PUBG on the channel. Additionally, TigressX is working hard to expand her YouTube presence and even add eSports event coverage to her repertoire.

The biggest challenge, and this is common with a lot of streaming stars, is adding other game titles when the majority of your viewers want what you made it big with. It can be a bit of a catch 22 when getting as popular as TigressX. The majority of her current audience started watching her play Smite, so naturally, they want to watch her play Smite. However, with TigressX' showmanship and entertaining style, I have faith in her to add some more games, attract new viewers and keep her current base entertained for years to come!

If you haven't already, make sure you take a moment to follow TigressX!

Gaming since '95, began InfoGamer in June of 2017 to bring a new twist to gaming media and reporting. Brandon contributes the weekly Out Of Box hardware review as well as other articles for InfoGamer. Follow Brandon on Twitter or Google+ for more!